Carrying out a home renovation can be an exciting time for all homeowners. Along with choosing your new furnishings, wall colours and flooring materials, careful consideration also should be given to your lighting choices in order to make the best of your space.
Although many typically give more thought to choosing lighting for bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens, the bathroom is definitely one space where lighting features should not be neglected. With this room being used routinely in the mornings and evenings, as well as when a member of the household wants to enjoy a soak in the tub, getting the lighting right here definitely pays off.
It is important to get the task lighting right in your bathroom first of all. Task lighting simply means lighting that makes sure that everything is sufficiently illuminated so that you can carry out all the tasks that you need to in this space, whether it is getting changed, brushing your teeth or hopping under the shower.
Simple answer to task lighting is to provide a row of spotlights – such as GU10 light fittings – down the centre of the room, giving sufficient light to all corners of the space. As we use our bathrooms in both the mornings and evenings, bright overhead lights can be a fantastic functional option.
They are, however, not right for all spaces, as overhead lights in some places can easily cast shadows on the areas where you most need light to be.
One of these places is in the shower, as people will often find that when their shower curtain is drawn, not enough light makes its way through to light up the shower area sufficiently. Bright ceiling spotlights such as the GU10 light fittings mentioned earlier can be ideal here, as they are directly placed in the ceiling for safety’s sake and will provide enough light for showering purposes.
The other area where task lighting is particularly important is any space that you use for grooming, such as in front of your bathroom mirror. Here, overhead lights cannot light up the face sufficiently, meaning that applying makeup, styling the hair and shaving can become a lot more difficult.
A solution here is to place wall lights on the sides of the mirror in order to light up your face well. A more natural solution is to place your mirror near your bathroom window so you have plenty of natural light flooding in and lighting up your face. The latter solution, however, is not so effective in the early mornings and evenings when it is dark outside!
In addition to making sure that your bathroom is filled with plenty of light from some spotlights such as GU10 light fittings or an attractive pendant lamp, as well as ensuring that you have adequate task lighting for your shower and your bathroom mirror, it is also a good idea to introduce some accent lighting.
The purpose of accent lighting is purely aesthetic – this can turn any bathroom from a functional room into a truly captivating space, and is especially a good idea if you have invested in some beautiful artwork or bathroom furnishings.
Some examples of accent lighting in action include the carefully placed spot light over a sculpture or expertly crafted sink, some beautiful wall lights next to a vast mirror, or a gorgeous pendant lamp hanging over an exquisite bathtub. Use lights to draw attention to the areas that you want people to look at and you can dramatically change the appearance of a room.
By following these tips it is not hard to get your bathroom lighting just right. Give thought to providing ample overhead lighting and efficient task lighting, but do not forget to enhance your favourite furnishings with some strategically placed accents either.
